LOS ANGELES – Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has submitted an alternative resolution ahead of an NFL relocation vote in Houston calling for the league’s owners to approve the Rams’ and Chargers’ relocation to play in a $1.86 billion Inglewood stadium backed by Rams owner Stan Kroenke, the Orange County Register has learned.

The proposal by Jones, a longtime Kroenke ally, was outlined in a memo sent to teams on Friday. Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Raiders owner Mark Davis, who want to build a $1.75 billion stadium in Carson, are opposed to the Jones plan.

Allies of the Carson project view the proposal as a delaying tactic by Kroenke and his supporters and part of a strategy in which NFL officials and key owners put pressure on Spanos to agree to join the Rams in Inglewood. At the same time, some owners, including some close to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, have raised the possibility, although not formally, of the Rams joining the Chargers in Carson.

Goodell in another memo to the league’s teams on Saturday said new stadium options presented by officials in Oakland, St. Louis and San Diego are “inadequate.” Goodell, however, is non-committal on which team or teams should be approved for relocation.

NFL owners are expected to approve two teams for relocation during a special meeting Tuesday and Wednesday in Houston.

Goodell’s memo clears what until recently appeared to be a potential major obstacle to Kroenke’s relocation plans: a viable stadium option in St. Louis.

A stadium task force appointed by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has proposed a public/privately financed $1.1 billion stadium on St. Louis’ downtown waterfront. Several league owners including those on the NFL’s Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities have said it would be difficult for a franchise to gain approval for relocation if a viable stadium option exists in the team’s current market.

But league staff and several influential owners have cooled on the St. Louis proposal in recent weeks. A San Diego City and County proposal for a $1.1 billion stadium at Mission Valley is not considered viable by league officials and owners because of concerns about the legality of an expedited environmental review process and the fact that the earliest a vote on public funding for the stadium could be held is next June.

NFL officials said they have yet to see a credible plan from Oakland officials or Bay Area developers.

“We have not seen the report, nor do we expect to, as that would be a matter between the league office and team owners,” the St. Louis task force said in a statement. “We do hope the NFL will communicate with all home markets as to their status prior to any decisions next week, particularly here in St. Louis where so many people have dedicated themselves over the past 14 months to producing a strong and certain stadium proposal for the NFL and our hometown Rams.

“We anticipate that will be the case and are confident our proposal will speak extremely well on behalf of St. Louis as the NFL deliberates next week.”

Jones’ proposal comes despite repeated statements by Spanos to league officials and owners that he has no interest in the Inglewood project.

“I have reviewed the letter you received dated December 1, 2015 from Stan Kroenke,” Spanos wrote in a Dec. 7 letter to the Los Angeles committee obtained by the Register. “Nothing in Stan’s letter gives me any reason to reconsider my partnership with Mark Davis and our stadium site. I firmly believe that the proposal we have jointly made is in the best interests of the entire League and is in complete compliance with the League’s relocation policies. I write to respectfully reaffirm our strong partnership and my abiding desire to help the National Football League’s return to Los Angeles in the most successful way.”

The Jones proposal also follows a Nov. 27 letter from Kroenke to the league’s six-owner Committee on NFL Opportunities in which the Rams owner said he was receptive to a second team acquiring an ownership stake in the Inglewood stadium. Under Kroenke’s proposal, the stadium would be owned by both teams as part of a stadium company. The stadium company and the two teams would finance the stadium. Kroenke said funding for the stadium would come from two $200 million loans from the NFL, one for each franchise, sponsorship revenue, naming rights and personal seat license fees. The teams would be responsible for the remaining funding.

The design, construction and planning of the stadium and surrounding area would be the responsibility of an entity designated by Kroenke.

The Jones proposal would likely require the league cutting a deal with Davis, with one scenario the league providing $100 to $200 million on top of a $200 million loan from special stadium fund for a new 50,000-seat venue in Oakland.

The Kroenke and Jones pitches mark a significant departure from how he earlier viewed a second team in Inglewood.

During an August NFL meeting on the Los Angeles situation in suburban Chicago, Kroenke was asked during his presentation on the Inglewood project by Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey if the stadium could host two franchises. Yes, Kroenke replied, a lease agreement with a second team could be drawn up very quickly.

The Jones move is also seen by Carson supporters as recognition that Spanos and Davis have, according to NFL insiders, between 17 and 20 votes going into the Houston meeting.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.